What was happening in Luton?

This page contains a list of events that occured in Luton and surroundings 1914-1919, as well as global events that affected Luton's people.
When you add an ancestor to this site, it is always a good idea to try and connect them to an 'event' that happened in their life. E.g. if they fought at the Battle of the Somme, then you can make this connection on the 'Add Person' form.

An interesting occasion was that at Wardown V.A.D. Hospital on Tuesday evening [May 20th, 1919]. After years of magnificent service throughout the war in tending the sick and wounded soldiers back to health and strength, the time had come to part from these war associations.

Saturday July 19th 1919 was a national day of celebrations. In Luton, events started with a procession to the Town Hall from Luton Hoo. Nearly 20,000 people enjoyed sports and entertainment at Wardown. No one could have foreseen how the day would end.

It was popularly believed that after Mayor Henry Impey fled his seven-hour ordeal of being barricaded in Luton Town Hall during the Peace Day riots on July 19th, 1919, that he never returned to the town.

Luton's tank, presented to the town in recognition of the support accorded to the War Savings movement, is to be placed in Wardown Park in company with a naval gun captured from the Germans in Palestine by the 1/5th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, reported The Luton News of February 5th

A little group of men stood by the side of a fence near the scene of the Kingsway factory destruction, and it was amongst those that a Telegraph representative discovered some of the survivors of the original explosion.

I am writing the History of Waste in Luton from 1850 to 2009, which, of course, includes this history during WW1. I was Head of Waste Management at Luton Borough Council from 1996 until I retired in 2009, having been employed in a wide variety of posts within the Cleansing Division since Februar